Luminosity (Escaping Demons Saga Book 1)

by Stacy McWilliams

  I turned my eyes around the bathroom and spotted an enclosed shower. I decided to use the shower to clean up hoping whoever I was staying with wouldn’t mind me using the shower. As I washed I looked down and began getting these awful flashbacks. Stumbling back into the wall of the shower as eyes as black as coal glared down at me. Crying out when horrible bark faced creatures with hands with only two fingers grabbed me and a boy with green eyes, looking at me in longing and then the same eyes hardened in hatred.

  As each image hit I slipped further and further down in the shower. I hugged my knees and stayed there for a few minutes as other things flashed back. A creature with blue veins, more evil faces in a large room and a hole in my hand. Each image lasted only a few seconds but left me with an impression of terror.

  The only thing that calmed me was the image of the boy with green eyes and a kind face. I knew he was important to me but I didn’t know how or why or when he had become important to me.

  I walked into the room and saw that the bed had been stripped which freaked me out slightly as I hadn’t heard anyone come into the room. I got dressed and went back to look in the mirror. I stared so long my face disappeared and there were only vague shapes of faces with no eyes. I closed my eyes and counted to ten as my heart rate increased but before I made it all the way ten I heard the room door open.

  I walked out into the room and saw a pretty girl standing there. She stood glaring at me. Her long black hair flowing down her back and the look on her face was what made me pause.

  “Hurry up,” she hissed at me as I stood staring at her. I jumped back at the venom in her voice and I noticed her face changing as she glared at me. Her face turned into a creature with a long, rough shaped nose, black eyes and rough bark like skin.

  I flinched as she stormed over to me and grabbed me. I was too terrified to make any move because she looked as though she could hurt me. She squeezed my arm hard and dragged me over towards the door. I had no shoes on and when she noticed she pushed me away. “For fuck sake! Put some fucking shoes on.” She left, but glanced back and looked at me like I was crazy.

  I thought I was going crazy. I couldn’t get the image of her and her crazy demonic face out of my mind. I shook my head and moved to my bed to put my shoes on. Putting my head into my hands I rubbed my eyes and reached down to pull on my shoes.

  I heard voices as I brushed my hair a few seconds later.

  “Something isn’t right with her. She doesn’t seem to remember me. Maybe you should try.”

  “No chance,” another voice answered. This voice was sweeter and gentler. The voice made my heart rate spike even though the next words crushed a part of me that I couldn’t remember, “I don’t want to fuel her infatuation with me any further. Thank you very much.”

  I moved towards the door and they moved away. I saw the back of two heads heading down the stairs. As they reached the stairs another voice called up “Jasmine,” and for some reason my body started shaking as I heard this rough, grisly voice, “hurry up, it’s time to leave.”

  I stood there for a few more seconds and composed myself. Surely I would remember something if I went downstairs, so I gathered what little courage I could and forced myself to walk out of the room after picking up my backpack.

  I walked towards the stairs, focusing only on placing one foot in front of the other and watching where I was walking so I didn’t annoy anyone, or break anything. I got to the top step and the boy from my visions walked right into me with a look of disgust evident on his face. He glared at me as he shouldered me out of the way and sighed loudly as I exhaled on impact.

  Suddenly the previous day rushed back to me in amazing clarity. I remembered running away, hiding in the woods, being found and thrown across the clearing and Nathan, the look on his face. Oh my God, he actually hated me and here was me fantasising about him and wondering when I would see him again.

  I was still standing there as he walked back from his room. The slamming of the door behind him made me jump and I dared a glance at him to see he was glaring at me.

  “Move,” he spat at me.

  I just stood there dumbstruck, wondering how I managed to forget a whole day when I remembered walking up back here and Mr Stevenson griping my arm. I stumbled back and Nathan grabbed me roughly and pushed me onto the stairs again.

  “Will you bloody move?”

  I couldn’t move. I was frozen and I looked at him feeling the terror growing. I knew I needed to move because I couldn’t stay there. He stared intently at my eyes, but there was a coldness there that I had never seen before. He touched my arm and I glanced down at his hand on my arm then back at his face. My arm heated under his gentle touch and I turned away from him. I pulled my arm from his and his breath hissed out as I pulled away. I kept my eyes trained on the ground all the way to school, not looking at Nathan and Jenny.

  School, however, was a different story. The teachers wanted to know why I hadn’t been in the previous day and why I had failed to do my homework and I was given four after school detentions because I had nothing to hand in. I was held back after school till half past four, when school ended at three thirty. I had to walk home in the pounding rain with my head pounding inside my skull because all day I had been trying to figure out how Mr Stevenson managed to make me forget a whole day. I got back to the house and the front door was locked. I was drenched, hungry and with a pounding headache. All I wanted was a warm shower, some painkillers and to go to sleep.

  I walked all the way around the house, looking for some shelter and I noticed that the barn doors were open. My shoes squelched as I made my way towards the barn. The water from the downpour was running down my back. Shivering violently I reached the door, but when I went to walk in something held me back. I couldn’t get into the barn. There was something stopping me, a barrier of some kind. My brain was all mushy and my head was swimming. I knew I had to move but I didn’t feel steady enough on my legs to move.

  After a few minutes I my body started to move on its own away from the barn, as if something was controlling me and making me move. My body was being controlled like a puppet on a string and it lasted until I was in the middle of the front yard. My control came back to me and realised I was standing, shivering in the middle of a puddle. I looked around thoughtfully for a minute as I tried to figure out the best place to go for shade.

  It was then that I noticed the woods. My eyes lingered on them and I walked across to a gap in the trees but couldn’t make my legs take me in there either. I walked along the tree line until I reached a different bit of trees. I stopped under the canopy of leaves, smelling the different aromas from the woods, the smell of wet grass, wet leaves and listened to the sounds of leaves dripping with water and the brook babbling nearby.

  Sheltered from the rain and hidden from view I watched the yard for a moment then closed my eyes because my fingers were numb and my body felt as though it was carved from ice. My body shook harder than ever but at least I was no longer being rained on. I could see out into the garden and beyond that to the house and barn beyond.

  It was then that I noticed that the Stevenson’s were not out, they had been in the barn, and were now walking across the yard looking around. I was in a spot that was invisible to them and I the sounds of them speaking to each other carried across the yard to me.

  “Nathan, where is she? Have you lost her?” said Mrs Stevenson.

  “I’m sure she can’t be far dear,” Mr Stevenson answered.

  Nathan was looking around and for one moment met my eyes through the trees. He moved his head quickly from side to side. He tore his eyes from mine and back to his parents saying,

  “I did not bloody loose her. She had detention and that was not my fault either.”

  He looked pissed off and Jenny glanced at him then at their parents.

  “Look around you two. Find her,” growled Mr Stevenson.

  They were looking in the trees, getting closer and closer to me. My heart was pounding so har
d. Jenny was complaining.

  “Mum I’m getting all wet. I don’t see why we both have to look for her. She’s Nathan’s sacrifice so it’s his responsibility to find her. “

  “Fine! Jenny come back to the house. Nathan I expect you to find her.” Mrs Stevenson sounded stern and I peered out to see the three of them cross the yard and head back into the house.

  I was in a thicket of bushes on one side and conifer trees at my other side. I was shaking, when Nathan’s hand grabbed my wrist. He spun me around and gave me a critical once over. His face tensed and he hissed out at me, “Stay here. Do not move or make a sound.”

  He sprinted away towards Jenny and his parents. He spoke to his father for a moment, nodded and then ran into the house. I could feel the water running down my legs, and dripping from the trees onto me.

  They walked into the house and closed the door which made me feel more alone than ever. Ten minutes later, I was about to leave the shelter of the trees when the front door opened and Nathan stepped out wearing a waterproof Barbour and Wellington boots. Strangely he looked hot and my frozen lips lifted in a smile.

  I started to move as his voice sounded in my ears, “I told you not to move,” he snarled. After a few minutes he reached me. He looked creepy with his jacket zipped up and his hood on. He glared down at me and grabbed my wrist, dragging me out into the rain. The rain was so heavy it ran down his hood and hit me. My body shivered with the cold and with the fact he was still touching me.

  We got closer to the door of the barn. I tried to pull away but he held on and I opened my mouth to say something about going in there when he stopped. His body turned towards me and my body responded automatically. The rain blurred my vision as I looked up at him, but he slapped me hard across the face. My body recoiled and he pulled me onwards with his other hand while my body vibrated in fury.

  I was too stunned to say anything and was shocked by the anger he showed when he slapped and the anger and fear I saw on his face. He led me around the side of the barn and threw me against the hidden side. He was shaking and there was water streaming down his face. He closed his eyes, pinched his nose and walked away from me. He paced backwards and forwards for a few minutes then came back and stood in front of me. I could barely see him through the rain and I was now wetter than I have ever been in my entire life.

  “Stay here,” he muttered “and I mean stay here. Don’t move. Stand still.”

  With that he turned and stormed away from me towards the trees. I stood there shivering, wondering what had happened to the boy who seemed so nice and different to his family. I couldn’t believe this was the same boy who had danced in the rain with me. What had happened to him? Where had the sweet boy gone? The one who apologised and smiled at me, I wanted him back.

  I waited a further ten minutes and there was no sign of him, but I didn’t move. I continued standing there, shivering, when suddenly there was a low growl in the trees to my right. My head turned and a pair of vivid purple eyes stared out at me. I tried to back away but I couldn’t seem to control my movements. Instead of backing away like my brain was screaming at me to do, my body started moving towards this creature. I started screaming, but no sound was coming out.

  As I reached the edge of the trees, I saw the body of this creature with the purple eyes. It had long fingers, curved with points on the end. Bluish, purple veins ran up and down the arms and the body covered in light blue hairs. The face was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. Nausea threatened to overwhelm me and my head spun as I was dragged towards it. It had a long snout like a wolf with razor sharp teeth and red bits inside these teeth. My body wouldn’t respond and would only stare as this thing stalked towards me.

  It moved with lithe, quiet steps and spoke in a quiet whisper which caused the hairs on my neck to rise. As it stalked closer to me, I shook and when it got close enough to touch me, I almost collapsed onto the floor.

  “Oh no, princess, no relief for you,” it whispered in a sinisterly low voice and as it whispered. It nipped me with its fingers, causing intense pain then nothing. My body crumpled to the floor but my eyes were open and I could see the thing licking his fingers. I lay there staring at it, wondering what it was going to do to me but I didn’t wonder for long,

  “I am going to kill you princess! Why should the demons get all the fun and the rest of us, survive on the fringes and scraps? I will have revenge on them and will kill you to prove that I am better than them.”

  As it spoke, my head swam, demons? The rest of them? I was confused and as I lay there the night began to get darker and colder but I still couldn’t move. I watched it circle me and wondered if I was going survive. The creature eventually stopped at my feet and began dragging me further into the woods. I began to get some feeling back in my head but I couldn’t move, couldn’t cry and couldn’t feel anything, except a bitter cold that turned my body to ice.

  The creature stopped a little further away as a sound pierced the night air. I couldn’t tell what had made the sound, man or beast but I could tell that the creature was scared. My neck moved a little and the creature came up and used the tip of two fingers and pierced me in the neck. I again felt numb and I realised that this creature had venom in his fingers.

  I lay there screaming inside as the creature walked around me. It examined me as though I was a meal and I screamed louder when suddenly he flew over me and landed at the foot of a tree. The ground shook as it landed but I couldn’t see where it had came from or what had caused him to fly over me like that.

  He appeared over me unexpectedly and his snout came down towards my face he sucked on my neck. All I could feel was a dull, pulling sensation and a lapping at my neck with a hairy tongue. The sensation lasted a moment and then the creature was off of me again. I was drifting into unconsciousness and could feel a dribbling on my neck.

  My eyes flew open again. I was petrified to let them close and they skirted about looking for the creature, but instead Nathan was in front of me forcing the creature into the tree. The tree trunk had opened and there seemed to be little creatures in the trees pulling the hairs from the creature and pulling it in. The night air was filled with the most horrific screeching noises.

  The creature leaped out again and Nathan flew out of my field of vision. I heard a cry of pain and a snap but I couldn’t see a thing and could only listen as something began running at me, I heard the squelch of the leaves and the rustle of the bushes. I could smell this sweet, cloying aroma and then the creature was standing over me.

  He looked at me, his purple eyes dancing like pools of fire, and he lowered his snout again to my neck when I Nathan appeared over him. His eyes were pitch black and he looked beyond enraged. He lifted the creature off of me and dragged it across the grass. He tugged it into the shadow of the same tree from earlier. I could see the creature struggling and Nathan looked as if he was winning, when suddenly the creature grabbed hold of his arm and twisted. Nathan yelped in pain and let go.

  The creature then took off at a run and Nathan walked over to me, glanced down at me and said in a tight voice, “stay here and for God’s sake listen to me and don’t fucking move.”

  He stormed off in the direction that the creature had gone and I lay there. My heart thundered and my brain rebelled as I remembered images. My body, unable to move and terrified that this thing would come back, started to seek the relief of unconsciousness but then I remembered the creature and my eyes would spring open. I was lying there for no more than five minutes when I my senses picked up something watching me. The thing had come back but he wasn’t alone. Something else was standing right behind him and as he went to pounce on me, the thing moved into the light and I saw it was one of the strange beings I had been seeing for days.

  The eyes were green and familiar to me. As the creature went to pounce on me when this other being grabbed it and slammed it into the tree. The other being raised its hand and placed it on the trunk of the tree over a mark and the tree opened up again. This
time I got a better look at the little creatures, they were tiny, red and had really strong, long fingers as they grabbed hold of the creature and this time the squealing was so loud it was echoing in my ears.

  The creature was dragged into the tree by the little creatures and was squealing and screeching the whole time. The tree closed the bark over and the being turned towards me, I blinked and Nathan was standing there, shaking and swaying. He collapsed in a heap at the foot of the tree and stared at me. I watched as his whole body shook and he panted in exhaustion.

  The feelings started to come back in my fingers and toes but still couldn’t move. As I lay there Nathan crawled over to me, placed a hand over my neck and pressed it in.”It didn’t bite you did it?” His voice was barely a whisper and up close he looked exhausted. “No, it didn’t.” He answered his own quested and leaned over kissing my head softly and more feeling returned to me as my heart pounded. For a second he leaned his head on mine. “Jas, please stop getting into trouble. You are exhausting me.”

  I wanted to nod and was about to when he kissed my head again and pushed himself up. He moved over to the tree that the creature had been pushed into and pulled some leaves from the bottom.

  He struggled back over to me and placed the leaves on my neck causing me to wince in pain. It felt odd like something was being sucked out of my neck and then the feeling fully came back. I was scratched and torn all over and my head was hammering.

  “We need to get back,” he muttered, “Can you walk?” he asked.

  I nodded but as I sat up blood started streaming down my neck and I felt faint. I slumped and Nathan grabbed my arm. He helped me up and put his hand on my neck. It zinged with energy and I stared at his eyes as he put my arm around his neck. His face was flushed and his eyes were bright.

  We walked slowly towards the house and both tripped and stumbled on our way there. Just as we reached the tree line Nathan stooped and picked up a dandelion. He handed it to me and said, “Eat that, it will help.”